USA Discovery Visit Day 6

After a weekend of exploring Boston (depending on whose activity tracker you believe this ranged from 44,000 to 60,000 steps) we picked up our Discovery Visit schedule this morning with a visit to the Parkway YMCA.

On arrival the reception area brought the annual campaign to life with a large Christmas tree and wall of stars representing pledges made by members and businesses in the local community.  Philanthropy has been a key discovery throughout our visit as we have learnt about the culture of donating to the Y ranging from Board members (both local and association boards) through to staff and members.

Photo of annual appeal stars representing donations.

Parkway Y was redeveloped in the last 2 years and the quality of the facilities are outstanding, we toured the aquatics area, fitness centre, gymnasium (and even had a tour of the boiler room!) before meeting in the community room to talk with staff about fundraising and their childhood development programmes. 

From Parkway YMCA our next stop was Thanksgiving lunch hosted by Executive Director Billy Alves and his leadership team at Menino YMCA.  We were met with warmth and enthusiasm by Billy and his leadership Team and it was a pleasure to be invited to share lunch with them.

Photo with the leadership team from Menino Y

Throughout our visit we have been fortunate to hear the stories of some of the people involved in the Y and over lunch I met Lyle Jackson, Teen and Youth Sports Development Director.  Lyle shared his story with the Y which began at Springfield College where he found he was struggling with college and sought help. Lyle was pointed in the direction of Harry Rock and Erin Friedman who quickly realised his potential and got him involved in the wider YMCA Movement including a visit to London to see the work of some of the English YMCA’s.  Following his graduation from Springfield College Lyle then chose a career with the YMCA!

We had the pleasure of meeting Erin Friedman, Associate Director of Springfield College on Thursday and in the spirt of Thanksgiving I would like to share with you a Mission Moment Erin delivered at the Massachusettes YMCA Alliance meeting we attended.

As Thanksgiving nears, I come to you with a simple message about gratitude.

In a community where people feel isolated, disconnected and are longing to belong, we have a place called the Y. Steadfast and stable - a place to ‘be’ and ‘become’.

In a community where children may fail to reach their full potential due to lack of resources, we have a place called the Y.  Determined and driven - a place that nurtures the goodness in every child - socially, emotionally, cognitively and physically.

In a community where the health and wellness of children and adults alike has been significantly compromised, we have a place called the Y.  Collaborating and conscientious - a place that renews and rejuvenates healthy lifestyles.

In a community where our social and political views divide us, we have a place called the Y.  Unifying and unique - a place that builds bridges and professes to be the place for all.

In a community where new Americans arrive daily, we have a place called the Y.  Warm and welcoming - a place that helps some of out brightest yet most vulnerable settle in.  Let us be grateful.

In a WORLD challenged by conflicting ideals, torn apart by wars, lacking access to education, healthcare and recreation, we have places called the Y.  Powerful and purposeful - that serve as beacons of hope, love and peace throughout 119 countries around the world.

Let us be grateful for our global YMCA Movement.  The vision and legacy of George Williams.  Thank you for your service to this great movement.  Thank you for your continued servant leadership.  Your willingness and courage to stand for what is right.  Thank you for reinforcing that the Y is the place for all.   Thank you for modelling the way.  The Y way.

Thank you to all of our YMCA Colleagues who have welcomed us to your Y’s and shared with us your knowledge, experience, challenges and celebrations throughout our visit.  It has been a pleasure to meet and get to know each and everyone one of you.

We now have a short break in todays programme to pack in advance of our departure for the UK tomorrow evening, before dinner this evening with the Director of Healthy Living, Bobby Kleinau.

Welcome to Springfield

After a very inspiring and thought provoking 3 days with the YMCA of Greater New York it was time to move on to the second leg of our discovery visit. Day 4 began with an early start at Springfield College in Massachusetts. Our host for this part of the visit was Erin Friedman, the Director of YMCA relations at the college.

Despite Springfield being a normal US College, educating 1400 undergraduates a year, evidence of its YMCA roots were clear with the Body, Mind and Spirit Triangle displayed prominently on buildings and still part of the college's logo.

Springfield College began life in 1885 as the YMCA School for Christian Workers before evolving to become the YMCA Training School for much of its history. We learnt about the college's place in YMCA history providing training for YMCA professionals from across North America and the world.

Today any student at the college can add a minor in YMCA professional studies to any major study and it provides an opportunity for all students, not just those interested in a YMCA career to develop their academic skill set through courses, volunteer work and networking.

Posted on behalf of Jason Beattie - YMCA Norfolk

We spent a very interesting 45 minutes in the college museum with archivist Jeffery Monseau, who shared the story of basketball's invention at the college in 1891 and showed us different YMCA artefacts. This museum also hosts the YMCA Hall of Fame. A fascinating morning, which put in context the on going mission of the YMCA world wide.

Our afternoon was spent in Marlborough, at the Alliance meeting of the YMCAs from across Massachusetts. The Alliance Director, Peter Doliber, explained that this was a formalised partnership of 30 YMCAs operating over 410 locations and that the Alliance was able to access state funding for different projects which was then distributed to the individual YMCAs to do the delivery.

Peter presented an annual update to the 160 people present. YMCAs had served 1/5 of Massachusett's residents, had distributed $60m in financial aid, given $32m in scholarships to college, had focused on improving child literacy and facilitated 250 young people to engage in a youth Government prog

Three awards were made to public policy champions. The Youth Development award went to Commissioner Thomas Weber of the Early Education Department. The Social Responsibility award was given to Speaker of the House, Robert Deleo for bringing in state laws around gun safety, drug prevention and early education. The Health Living award went to state representative, Aaron Vega.

Giving awards to politicians and people of influence is somethings we have experienced in both New York and Massachusetts and it is very simple and way to build relationship and engage support from those with the power to help the work of the YMCA.

USA Discovery Visit Day 3

Posted on behalf of Julie Martin

The first few days have been totally amazing for all sorts of reasons.

We are hundreds of miles apart yet we all have that ‘want’ to transform lives, to care, to improve communities and to help  people reach their full potential.  

Thankyou everyone in NYC for your very warm welcome, for sharing, and making our stay so inspirational.

Across the world we seem to go arm in arm working to better lives.

I am proud to be part of this amazing family

USA Discovery Visit - Day 2

After hearing much about YMCA of Great New York's strategic direction and approaches on day 1 today we heard some of the detail that added flesh to the strategic skeleton that is driving their work forward across the five boroughs that comprise NYC.

As you might imagine an entrepreneurial approach is needed to sustain a near $200m operation and there are services and products that have a far greater drive for income than we typically see in our own Federation at home. Yet this generation of cash is needed to ensure that services for social good can be delivered in branches situated in the poorer neighbourhoods of the city and indeed to ensure that YMCA retains a physical presence in these areas. In fact, I would say that there are many common challenges faced by YMCA here and at home. Government policy has the potential to have a very real impact on not only the work we deliver but the very existence of some of our programmes and concise communication of our broad offer remains difficult.

What has remained consistent over the first few days is the warmth and enthusiasm of the welcome across the branches that we have visited, shown again today as we saw what Vanderbilt YMCA branch had to offer. The enthusiasm and positivity is infectious!


After a tour of the UN we were fortunate enough to be invited to the Hispanic Achievers Award's held at the prestigious Carnegie Hall. Here, we were given a very visual reminder of why YMCA exists and the life changing impact it has on the young people we serve. All of sudden the strategy, the income generating work, the investment in business infrastructure was shown to be a necessary diversion to achieve what we are really about. In front of a packed room, we heard about three young achievers who had overcome adversity and, through support from YMCA of Greater New York, achieved incredible things. Joshen Ayukawa recounted a troubled early childhood that could easily have forced him down the wrong path and yet his strength of character and a guiding hand from YMCA has resulted in hugely impressive individual with a positive future ahead and who is also contributing to help his peers and community. Congratulations also to Giselle Gonzalez and Shayna Gonzalez, both participating in a programme to boost the high school graduation rates of Hispanics in New York

I love strategy and dashboards and data and process but ultimately it is only there to allow people like Joshen, Giselle and Shayna to flourish.

Finally, I can't leave this blog without saying a huge thank you to all the staff of YMCA of Greater New York who we have met so far and especially Natalie Norton and Rayda Marquez who have been host extraordinaires and who have provided much food for thought.

Discovery Visit USA Day 1

Posted on behalf of Jo Chettleburgh - Director of Income Generation, YMCA England & Wales.

It’s my first time in America and I've been feeling both excited and apprehensive, today was a long day, heavy security, long flight and loads of traffic, but the lovely welcome we have received from YMCA New York City has made it all worthwhile, we had such an amazing evening with Rayda Director International Programs and Natalie Chief Operating Officer.

It’s also been lovely getting to know everyone in our group, lots of different skills, knowledge and experience coming together to represent YMCA England & Wales. It was strange trying to stay up as late as possible so that we wouldn’t wake up at 4am in the morning and be tired all day (Jason’s travel advice) J I woke up at 3.45am but soon fell asleep again.

13.11.2017

We started our day at YMCA New York City Westside with CEO Sharon Greenberger sharing her visionary and inspirational approach to strategic change. With the imminent launch of their 2018-2025 strategic plan it was great to see how the different strands of their work come together to deliver the key strategic priorities to Empower Youth, Improve Health and Strengthen Communities.

Our visit to YMCA Harlem Branch was extremely interesting; it was great to see the legacy of Sir George Williams come to life through the diversity of engagement with a complex and varied community.

To see first-hand the positive impact of the innovative and market leading New Americans Welcome Centres initiative was amazing.

Natalie Norton COO facilitated an excellent afternoon of knowledge sharing, discussion and debate with her Senior Management Team, giving great insight into the size and complexities of how YMCA NYC is changing and developing its self to deliver the strategic challenges that face all of us in this fast changing economic and social environment.

 

Our day finished with a lovely reception with staff and Trustees.Thank you all so very much for a great start to our Discovery Visit, really looking forward to the next few days.

Jo Chettleburgh

Director Income Generation 

Back to the future (of work)

Given the broad work of YMCA and the ever-increasing remit of the policy and research team, it can be easy for advocacy work to become a ‘fire fighting’ exercise.

In such instances the immediate need of responding to the latest in the long line of policy announcements that have the potential to negatively impact the lives of young people takes precedence, and more proactive work is deprioritised.

Participating in the European Youth Forum’s Expert Group on the Future of Work’s most recent meeting in Brussels afforded me the opportunity to look beyond the immediate need and examine what can be proactively done to help shape the working environment for young people.

Crucially, this is not merely a discussion about ‘robots taking our jobs’; it is a discussion about the world we want to live in and the basic human rights that are important to us.

Saying that, after two days of intensive meetings I’m afraid to say that the future of work is no clearer and if someone was to ask what it will look like, it’s safe to say that I would still not be able to give a concrete answer.

Needless to say, however, that I am not alone and experts around the world are divided on what comes next.

While reassuring that it’s not just me, this uncertainty does bring challenges. But, ever the optimist, with challenge comes opportunity and all that!

That opportunity is the chance to challenge the status quo. A status quo that so often ignores the needs and wants of young people in favour of their older counterparts.

I, along with the rest of the Expert Group are hoping to challenge this status quo, by lobbying for, and advocating with young people to make sure that their needs are put at the forefront of any decisions on the future of work.

‘The future of work’ seems an abstract concept, and to some extent it is. However, speaking to young people reveals that the effects of changing job markets are already being felt as young people struggle to navigate the so called ‘gig economy’.

As such, the discussions of the group focused around the role of big data and the implications for young people’s privacy, universal basic income as a means by which young people can be offered the protections they need, the impact of technology and robots on job creation and retention, and how to ensure that the future of work will truly work for everyone.

Our challenge now is how we make such changes work to our advantage and help secure young people are best equipped to reach their full potential.

It is this that I, as part of the Expert Group on the Future of Work, will continue to examine over the coming year and feed into the European Youth Forum’s Board Position Paper expected in September next year. 

Refuelled and ready to go

I’m currently sat on a plane on my way back to London after a few days at World YMCA’s Strategy Delivery Summit.

I won’t lie to you, the few months haven’t been easy for me, both in terms of work and personally. I’d started to question where next, or even if there was a next.

But sat here reflecting about the last few days, I feel as high as the 39,000 feet up I am now.

We received updates on the progress being made at a global level against our strategy, some best practice models being developed, learnt about our visibility in the media globally, and heard about the plans for World Council and a new Secretary General.

I want to be part of a movement that has a vision and is taking steps to reach, empower and mobilise many more of the 1.8 billion young people living across the world today.

To take those next steps, I think we need to challenge our understanding of this generation, go deeper in understanding young people, and then be bold and innovating in speaking out on the issues that matter to them in the spaces they operate and live in.

Armed with a renewed sense of just how amazing our movement is, some emerging ideas of how we turn our aspiration into action, a list of contacts from amazing colleagues around the world, (and some new pin badges), I feel refuelled and ready to go again.

Lets make this happen!